The Aerios
by CMDR-Lane
Summary: A distress signal bring the crew to discover something they never thought possible... a way home.
1. Chapter 1

**The Aerios**

_**This is my first super-short story developed for Voyager. It takes place right around the end of season seven, and as you will see completely erases the 'endgame' timeline.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**-- **_

"_Nexon, treleca dou handren utopq xiii yanarc dolon!"_

Captain Janeway stood up from her chair as she listened to the speakers crackle on the bridge.

"We almost didn't pick it up, Captain," Harry looked down at her from his station. "its on a band that we don't normally monitor."

"Could it be a distress signal?" Chakotay stood up and walked next to the captain.

"We need to keep them talking for the universal translator to lock onto the syntax." Janeway narrowed her eyes and walked closer to the viewscreen, which was displaying a streaking starscape. She pointed up to Ensign Kim. "Put me through." He nodded at her. "This is captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship _Voyager_. Do you require assistance?"

The bridge fell silent again as they waited. The speakers activated a moment later.

"_Nexon, tru yuix del xiii dolon!" _

"That wasn't much difference from the first one." Chakotay commented. Janeway glanced at him, and back to Ensign Kim.

"Anything?"

"No Ma'am. The translator can't make anything of it."

"Janeway to Neelix, report to the bridge at once."

"_On my way!" _

She turned back to the viewscreen. "Our translator is having difficulty making sense of your language. What is your location? Do you require help?"

"_Nexon, treleca dou handren utopq xiii yanarc dolon!"_

She threw her hands up. "That's the same one as earlier."

"A recording perhaps?" Tuvok suggested.

"Captain, I'm inclined to believe it's a distress signal. I'm picking the broadcast up on a few more frequencies now that we are getting closer." Harry noted.

"Harry, track the source of the communication." She turned when the turbolift doors opened, and Neelix walked out. "Neelix, listen to this." She pointed back up at Harry, who replayed the first message. Neelix frowned, and shrugged his shoulders.

"I've never heard it before. What is it?" He asked.

"That's what we are trying to determine." Janeway replied to him.

"I've located the source of the signal. Its about five lightyears out." Ensign Kim looked down at her. Janeway glanced over to Chakotay.

"What do you think?"

"I'm just as curious as you, and if they are in trouble we owe it to them to see if we can help." He said to her.

"Agreed. Tom, alter our course to intercept. Increase speed to warp eight."

"Warp eight it is." He replied and tapped the engage button. _Voyager _trusted foreword.

Janeway and Chakotay sat down, as Janeway directed her attention to Mr. Neelix.

"What do you know about this region of space?"

"Well let me think. We passed the Regicx homeworld last week didn't we?" Janeway nodded her reply. "Ah. Well that would put us right around…" He stopped to think for a moment. "Oh my."

"What?" Tom swiveled his char around to face Neelix.

"Well its just that the region of space we are entering has been referred to as the "Black Layer" of space."

"The 'Black Layer?'" Janeway raised her eyebrows. "Why?"

"I don't really know." Neelix patted his belly in thought. "There are rumors of this space being under quarantine, although I've never heard the reason why."

As if on cue, Tuvoks computer panel started to beep. "Captain, sensors are picking up a small communications buoy in our path. It's hailing us."

"Put it up." Janeway nodded at him. The speakers on the bridge activated.

"_Unidentified vessil, the space you are approaching has been deemed hazardous for all life by the Regicx Star Alliance. Alter your course away from this sector of space at once." _The line went dead.

"It's a warning buoy." Chakotay remarked. Janeway glanced a frown at him.

"Run a full-spectrum scan with the long range sensor array. See if you can verify anything hazardous." She ordered Harry.

"We just went past the buoy." Tom watched his sensor readouts on the screen. "Do you want me to drop out of warp?"

"Not yet. Harry?" She turned up to him.

"This is odd. Sensors aren't picking up anything."

"Well that's good. No telling how old that thing…" She started to say, when Harry cut her off.

"No, that's not it. Captain… sensors aren't picking up anything at all. I'm not seeing any stellar mass, no stars, no particle radiation, no… nothing. Its like…"

"A black layer." Neelix finished Harrys thought. They all turned back to the viewscreen, when they started to notice the amount of stars on the screen decreasing. Finally it was pitch blank.

"What the…" Chakotay muttered to himself. The ship suddenly shuddered slightly.

"We just fell out of warp. It looks like the navigation computer cant lock onto anything for guidance." Tom said as he worked his panel.

"Harry, how much further is that signal?" Chakotay asked him.

"Five minutes away at warp five." He replied.

"It'll take a month to reach it at impulse." Janeway muttered. "Janeway to Engineering."

"_Torres here." _

"We need to reconfigure the navigation computer for manual input. How fast can you get it done?"

"_Should only take a second, hold on." _

Janeway walked down to Toms station. "Assuming this will work, I want you to keep your finger on the emergency stop. I'm not sure how reliable sensors are going to be in here."

"Not a problem." He replied.

"_Torres to bridge, you should have warp power now. Just put your heading in and go." _

"Thanks B'Elanna, Bridge out." Janeway turned to Tom. "Warp nine, engage."

She sat back down, nervously. Chakotay leaned over to her.

"I hate flying blind."

"I know, me too."

The bridge fell silent for a few minutes, as the felt the push of the warp drive below them. Janeway felt her nerves jump when Harrys computer panel started a shrill beep.

"_Stop the ship!"_ He screamed at the top of his lungs.

Tom reacted with remarkable speed and slammed his fist down on the emergency stop button. _Voyager_ fired reverse thrusters, and the ship came to an abrupt halt – throwing everyone out of their seats and to the floor.

Janeway was the first to her feet, and she helped Chakotay up. "What happened?" She fired her question up to the ops station.

Harry groaned and picked himself up off of his panel. After a quick tap of the board he looked up. "My forward proximity alert went off. If we had stayed at warp we would have collided with…" He stopped when a new readout appeared on the screen.

"With what?" Chakotay asked him. Harry tapped a key, and the view screen re-focused. The bridge crew turned to look at the forward viewer. Janeway gasped slightly under her breath. They were staring at a massive field of half-destroyed ships that were aimlessly floating throughout the sector.

"A great battle took place here." Chakotay murmured. The two command officers walked slowly closer to the view screen.

"Tuvok, how many ships are there? And scan for survivors." Janeway said softly.

"Scanning… Captain, sensors are detecting no life signs. And as for the ships…" He stopped after reading his panel. Janeway turned around to face him.

"Tuvok?"

"Captain, none of these ships are in our database. I cannot identify a single one of them. And judging by these readings, this… graveyard… has been here for a long time. I would estimate several hundred years."

"You can't identify any of them? Where did they all come from?" She spoke softly.

"My God!" Harry suddenly gasped from his panel. They all directed their attention to him.

"Ensign?" Janeway asked as she started walking to his station.

"Captain… I think I found a Federation ship!"

Janeway raised her eyebrows. "Can you get a visual?"

"I'm diverting extra power to the sensor array… standby!" He replied quickly. After punching a few keys, the viewscreen changed its focus. They were staring at what appeared to be a Starfleet ship.

"_USS Aerios, NCC-22221"_ Chakotay read from hull

Janeway stood there staring at it for a moment. Finally she spoke. "It's a sleek hull design." She said softly. "Tuvok, you said that these ships have been here for hundreds of years. That ship on the viewscreen looks a lot newer than _Voyager. _Could this entire graveyard of ships be from the future?"

"It's a distinct possibility." He replied.

"What is the condition of the _Aerios_?" Chakotay asked him.

"Scanning. It's got charring on the hull… starboard side. Curious… I'm not detecting any active power sources… however life support systems seem to be on-line. There is atmosphere on all decks."

"Tuvok, Paris, you are with me. We're going to see if we can get some answers." Tuvok nodded, and walked to the turbolift. Tom headed up to join him. Janeway started to turn around when Chakotay stopped her.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to board that ship so soon?" He asked quietly.

"Something brought that Starfleet ship here. Something brought all these ships here… and I intend to find out what it was. Don't worry, keep an active transporter lock on us, and beam us out at the first sign of trouble." He nodded and stepped aside. "Harry, see if you can pinpoint the ship where that distress signal is coming from and start working on a language translation."

Ensign Kim nodded at her. Janeway patted Chakotay on the shoulder, and then started walking to the turbolift. "You have the bridge commander."

--

Janeway, Tuvok, and Paris materialized in a brightly lit room.

"Would you look at this." Tom said softly as he looked around the room. "This is one hell of a design" They all took a moment to study the bridge design. There were four massive wrap-around view screens that covered all four walls. The helm station at the front of the room was several steps down from the rest of the bridge, and the two seats were recessed into the floor pointing up at the control panels. The captain's chair was in the dead center of the room with a wrap-around computer terminal surrounding it. There were other panels scattered throughout the room, most of them lit up bright.

Upon further inspection however, they realized that the ship had taken damage. Several panels were cracked, and there were burn marks all over the walls.

"I wonder what happened to the crew." Tom thought aloud.

Janeway walked up to the nearest panel and glanced it over. "These panels are clear. The interface is nothing like any LCARS system I've seen before." She stopped and snapped out of her wonder. "I want to know why there is power to this ship. Three hundred years of no maintenance, the power should be depleted." She tapped a key on the panel, trying to access the systems.

Suddenly the room flashed bright green. She backed away from the panel quickly.

"Captain we were just scanned!" Tom said after consulting his tricorder. They glanced at each other nervously when the ships computer started to speak.

"_Starfleet officers detected. Automatic recall to earth subroutine has been activated. Hyperdrive startup sequence initiated. Hyperspace slip will commence in sixty seconds." _

Janeway felt herself turn white. The computer mentioned earth.

"Computer, cancel the countdown!" She said softly.

"_Unable to comply."_

"I recommend we vacate this vessel immediately." Tuvok said quickly, clearly out of his comfort zone.

"Hold on a second. Computer, how long will it take to reach earth using this… this 'hyperspace slip?'"

"_From present location a hyperspace slip to earth will take twelve point four seconds."_ Janeway felt her knees buckle. She had dreamed of a moment like this ever since they had been trapped in the Delta Quadrant. Of course she knew there were so many risks involved with their present situation, however the thought of being _home_ in twelve seconds just was too appealing. She turned to Tuvok.

"This ship is going to earth, and we are going with it." She slapped her comm badge as quick as she could. "Janeway to _Voyager."_

"_Chakotay here." _

"Chakotay…" She paused when the computer started to speak.

"_Hyperspace slip will commence in forty-five seconds."_

"Chakotay, use _Voyagers_ emergency transporters and beam everyone over here to the _Aerios_ at once."

"_What?" _She heard the surprise in his voice.

"Chakotay I can't explain now. Just do it, and have it done in thirty seconds!"

"_Thirty- shit! Harry start emergency beam outs of all perso-"_ She heard him say before she cut the line. She looked around the room at all the unfamiliar systems.

"Computer, run a full systems scan. Will the ship even make it to earth with its present condition?" Tuvok took the initiative to ask. He could tell that the Captain wasn't thinking clearly.

_"Affirmative. All propulsion and life support systems are fully operational." _The computer responded. He looked down at her.

"Captain I beg you to reconsider. We know nothing about this ship, are you prepared to leave _Voyager _behind on such a short whim? Especially for a ship that has been dormant for years, relying on a technology that we know nothing about?

"If it means we are home in ten seconds? Damn right I am." She said quickly.

_"Hyperspace slip will commence in thirty seconds." _The computer announced.

Janeway slapped her comm badge. "_Voyager_, status report!"

"We've got over half. Just a few more seconds!" Chakotay replied.

"Hurry! And don't forget the Doctor!" Janeway said quickly, realizing how horrible she would feel if they had left him behind. A few seconds later, the bridge of the _Aerios_ was filled with _Voyagers _command staff.

"That's everybody! Whats going on, Captain?" Chakotay asked her quickly.

_"Hyperdrive reactor core at cascade potential. Hyperspace slip will commence in fifteen seconds." _

"We are going home." She said softly. "Janeway to _Voyager _computer." She said into her comm badge. The system beeped its reply. "Initiate full systems lock down and grey mode, authorization Janeway pi one one zero."

_"Lockdown initiated. All systems powering down."_ She tapped her badge and cut the channel.

"Here's hoping this works." She said to Chakotay. He looked nervously at her, still completely confused.

"_Hyperspace slip will commence in ten… nine… eight…" _The computer begin its count-down. Time seemed to slow down for Kathryn Janeway as she thought about what she was doing. She had no idea if this would work but the thought of the ship leaving to earth and being home in a mere heartbeat compared to the long journey at warp across quadrants was more for her to handle. This was the best chance she had seen for years of them getting home, and she took it.

"_four… three… two…. Entering hyperspace slip."_

--

Janeway sat up and forced the nausea down. It had been the longest twelve seconds she had ever experienced. She looked around the room and saw that a few of her officers had vomited on the floor. Tom rolled over onto his back and moaned loudly. The Doctor ran down to him and gave a quick visual inspection. Chakotay was bent over holding his head. They all looked like they went through hell. She suddenly remembered what they had just done.

"Comp…" She stopped when she realized she was out of breath. She took a moment and inhaled deeply. "Computer, activate the viewscreen."

The forward viewer activated. The few of her bridge personnel who were able to move around saw it. Harry was the first to speak.

"Oh my God. We're home."

**The End**

**Please review. I really want to know what everyone thinks of this. Also- I'm up for thoughts on continuing this. Its obviously done, but I have ideas how to further the story and build upon the story of the **_**Aerios**_** before the **_**Voyager **_**crew found it. If you guys want me to continue on let me know. If you think it should be left as-is, let me know. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**400 Years in the Future**

"_Incoming hyperspace event." _The computer announced on the bridge of the _Aerios. _Captain Scott Bailey turned his head to the left and looked at the wallscreen that was displaying sensor data. He gripped his chair as the ship rocked from weapons fire.  
"I've got four incoming slips!" He heard his first officer say from his side, his voice stressed.

"The Tekorons?"

"No sir, Yanari attack cruisers!"

"Damnit! Bridge to engine room, status?"

"_Sir we are working as fast as we can but that last triphasic torpedo volley destroyed the power grid for the cooling system. We can't make a slip in this condition!"_

"Give me an estimation!" Scott said as he eyed the left wallscreen. The Yanari vessels just exited hyperspace and were on a direct course to intercept. Suddenly new sensor data appeared on the screen... nine more Yanari ships were about to exit hyperspace.

"_I don't know, if we don't get hit any more I'd say maybe two hours to get a base…"_

"Damnit." Captain Scott murmured as he watched the sensor screen. "Can we make a hyperspace slip without the coolant system?"

"_Well yes but it'll blow out half of the engineering section. Captain we can't-"_

"Standby engine room." Scott slammed his fist down on the comm button, cutting the channel. "Tactical, when will those ships be here?"

"Under two minutes." His officer replied.

"Can we use the light drive?" He turned to his first officer Blake Harley. Scott already knew the answer; it just felt like something he needed to ask. He was trying to reassure himself that what he was about to do was the right thing to do. Scott shook his head at him. "Alright, engine room, evacuate all personnel from the engineering section. Use the emergency transporters if need be." He walked over to the wallscreen and tapped a button. "This is Captain Scott. We are about to initiate a hyperspace slip to evade the Yanari. Everyone… this isn't going to be pretty so just hang tight."

He turned down to the helm pit. "Denny… how long will it take us to get to the Federation hyperspace barrier?"

"Nine seconds sir." The ship suddenly buckled under them as the attack started. A panel exploded on the bridge, showering everyone in sparks.

"Return fire!" Commander Harley barked as he stood up.

"Sir all weapons are offline! We haven't had a chance to get them back up yet…" The ensign stopped as he read his screen. "Primary shield ring is failing!"

"Its now or never!" Captain Scott ran to his chair and gripped it tight. "Denny, _go_!"

"Entering hyperspace!" Denny yelled from his seat as he slapped a button. The _Aerios _streaked through the line of Yanari ships and tore into hyperspace. The ship vibrated violently as Lieutenant Denny Krendt fought to keep it under control.

"Sir, we are loosing the variance shield ring! Oh shit- hyperdrive energy output just jumped to three hundred percent out of safety limits! She's running without the interlocks! Breach in fifteen seconds!" The engineering auxiliary officer yelled from his position.

"Denny, keep it hot until we clear the barrier! Lieutenant Moore- eject the hyperdrive the _second_ we exit our slip!"

"Standing by!" He replied.

The next few seconds seemed to last forever, when Captain Scott felt a bead of sweat roll down his face. The temperature on the bridge was increasing.

"Exiting hyperspace in three… two… one!" Denny pressed a button and the hyperdrive disengaged. The motion blur of the room ceased and they felt a sudden jolt.

"The core has been ejected but its still about to blow!" Moore turned to the captain.

"Helm, can you give me impulse power?" The captain asked quickly.

"All of our drives are shot! I don't see how-"

"The _Colont!"_ Captain Scott shot out of his chair when he saw it… the Starship _Colont_ exited hyperspace right behind them. They suddenly felt another jolt as the _Colont _took them in tow.

"We just went to light speed." Denny said from his position at helm. Everyone sank back into their chairs with relief.

"_You know you can't keep relying on me to save your ass every time you go through a bad neighborhood." _A female voice came in over the comm system.

"Captain Courtney Stancil." Captain Scott murmured. "You know I had it under control."

"_Says the man whose hyperdrive just exploded behind us. We'll be arriving at Starbase two twenty four in a few minutes… do you have any immediate medical needs?"_ He glanced over at his tactical officer who nodded yes.

"Yes, we will be beaming our wounded over momentarily. _Aerios_ out." He sighed and turned back to his tactical officer. "Do I even want to hear the damage report?"

The officer glanced down at his panel and then slowly looked back up. "Probably not, sir."

"Damn war." Scott mumbled as he walked towards the back of the room to the transit pad. "Commander please oversee docking procedures. I'll be in my ready room."

--

Captain Scott materialized the ready room of the _Aerios_. His heart sank a little further into his chest as he stared at the shattered room. The power junction behind the replicator had exploded leaving a massive hole in the far back wall. His broken personal affects were scattered throughout the room mixed in with the rubble, conduit, and busted bioprocessors. The room was an utter disaster… a feeling that he was coming to know more than he wished. He shuffled through the mess and picked his chair up off the deck plating. After a few minutes of searching he found his mobile terminal and activated it.

"Begin ships log." He spoke softly, and then shook his head. "Belay that. Begin personal log." The small mobile unit flickered as if it was in pain to operate – but its power source held steady. It beeped, indicating that the recording had begun.

He sat there for a minute staring at the video receiver, searching for the words. Finally it started flowing.

"I've never had a mental breakdown before. I've always taken pride in my mental state…. Being able to hold my own when other people crack. I've always wondered what it felt like to have a complete nervous breakdown… and wonder how those sorry sons of bitches could handle it. I've seen combat like this ruin people, where I have held my own. But this war… this god damn war…" He fell silent for a moment as he stared out at the devastation in his ready room. "I know now what those poor bastards feel like when they are on the brink of loosing their minds."

He forced himself to change track in his mind. He glanced at the mobile terminal that was now displaying the system status of his ship.

"I have to give the _Aerios_ credit. This ship has held up through the worst of times. I'm afraid she's hit her limit though. The engineering section is nothing but a charred… a charred gaping disaster…" He zoned out again… lost in thought. A few moments later, his eyes focused back on the screen in front of him. "The shield ring is gone, as is our variance ring. Not to mention we are one hyperdrive short of a full load." He stopped when the words came out of his mouth. He started laughing hysterically to the point when it turned into tears and finally into sobbing. A few minutes later he recovered and wiped his eyes dry. He glanced out the window and saw the Starbase come into view through the glow of the _Colont_ tractor beam.

"All mighty Starfleet." He whispered. "They wont admit it, but this war was… is… completely avoidable." A spark of an idea formed in his head. He turned to the recorder and stood from his chair. "This can all be avoided. The answer is in the _Aerios. _I beg anyone-" He stopped when the comm activated.

_"Stancil to Bailey, we are undergoing docking procedures. See you in a few, _Colont _out." _

Captain Scott sank back into his chair and looked at the recorder. "Computer, save and encrypt this log." He stopped when he thought it through. "Encrypt with algorithm Keith-gamma-echo." The recorder flashed twice and deactivated. He sat in his chair in the broken room. He felt a flash of rage and stood up quickly. "_God damn war!"_ He screamed and threw the table over. A hand phaser fell from an underside drawer to the floor. He felt the gentile release of the _Colont _tractor beam pushing his once-mighty ship into the docking bay as he knelt down slowly and picked it up. He increased the power level to maximum on the tiny unit until it was at overload potential. The small powercell started shrilling… warning of an impending explosion. He sat back down in his chair and leaned back holding the weapon to his heart. "I once lived for the honor to serve the greater good. Now that the greater good has become corrupt…"He paused, counting down his last seconds. He finally spoke again. _"I no longer wish to live at all." _


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Captain Janeway, the strength you and your crew have displayed during your long voyage in the Delta Quadrant was remarkable. You have gathered invaluable data and intelligence as well as successfully cataloged more stellar phenomenon than any Federation ship in the history of Starfleet."

Kathryn Janeway nodded her head at Admiral Douglas Marr, the speaker of the Federation Council. She was seated before the entire Council.

"Not to mention your acquisition of the _Aerios _one month ago- a vessel that we are still not entirely sure of its background, however as your log stated you saw an opportunity and you took it. I cannot say I blame you, for you got your crew home. This brings us to one final thing, Captain. Our scientists have analyzed the _Aerios _from stem to stern and it has the capability to tractor a ship through hyperspace. We have been able to learn a lot of how the hyperdrive works and although there are some elements of the unit we do not understand... we understand that it works. A recovery mission is in the works for the retrieval of _Voyager._" Admiral Marr paused to allow Janeway to speak.

"I figured it was only a matter of time. I didn't like the decision to leave _Voyager_ behind, although with the time constraint it seemed to be the right thing to do." Janeway replied to him.

"We understand Captain, but what matters now though is the retrieval of the ship. The council would like to offer you the chance to go back with the _Aerios_ to retrieve your ship. Given you were stuck in the Delta Quadrant for several years, we could see your reluctance to join this mission - therefore it will not be an order. If you want the position its yours."

Janeway didn't have to think about it. "I want to be on board. If there is a chance we can bring _Voyager_ back in tow by the _Aerios _we need to do it."

"Excellent. Have you been aboard the _Aerios _since your return?"

"No sir."

"The ship is in orbit now. Familiarize yourself with it before you depart. The _Voyager _retrieval mission starts at twelve hundred hours tomorrow. Good luck." The council members stood and filed out of the room. Kathryn stood there for a moment, and then turned and walked out of the room. She stopped for a moment and stared out the window at the Starfleet grounds. She was suddenly lost in thought about the past month. Debriefings after debriefings – the speeches – the reunions with family members – it was a lot to take in. There was, however, one thing that had been in the back of her heart ever since their return. She felt as if she had left a crew member behind. _Voyager_ was more than a ship to her. It was part of the family. She was ecstatic to get the chance to bring it home. She smiled, and stood up straight.

"Janeway to _Aerios – _one to beam up."

The transport sensation was slightly unnerving. She heard a loud _thrum_ echo through her head, and she was suddenly standing in an empty transporter room. She never felt the matter stream disassemble her body like a standard transport - she was just suddenly in a different place.

_"Intraship destination?" _She recognized the _Aerios_ computer ask the question. She raised her eyebrows, slightly confused.

"The bridge?" She stated slowly. She flinched when the loud _thrum_ echoed around her – then she was suddenly standing at the back of the bridge. A few of the crew members looked up when they saw her appear. Janeway glanced down around the bridge, it was just as she remembered it.

"Captain Janeway!" She turned to her left when she heard her name. She recognized Captain Keith Price – a young captain that she had met a week after her return to earth.

"Captain Price?" She cocked her head slightly in confusion.

"I've been re-assigned to the _Aerios _for this mission... they wanted someone fresh for the job_." _He replied, then noticed how shaken up she looked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, the transporters on this ship are strange." She replied.

"Oh your telling me!" He replied, enthusiastically. "It seems the system is automated. It recognizes all Starfleet officers, and can transport them automatically without the need for a transport officer. Its also how you get around through most of the ship..." He walked her over to a blue oval pad on the floor. "... you just step on the pad here and say where you want to go. There are also turbolifts, but are only used when needed to move people in bulk around the ship." Janeway nodded at him and continued to look around the room. She walked to the huge wallscreen to her left and paused looking at the sensor data.

"What have you been able to learn about this ship and where it came from?" She asked him.

"Well its pretty intriguing. I've still got people going through the database but from what we can tell so far the _Aerios_ is from about four hundred years in the future. There was damage to some of the more recent computer logs, so everything that happened to it about a year ago to now is largely unknown." He stopped and moved his finger around in the air thinking. "A year in the ships past. Our future. I hate time travel."

"Your not the only one." Janeway smiled. "Do they think they can recover the data?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. We are still trying to figure out the basic file storage system now - decoding damaged data is so far out of the question." He escorted her to the right wallscreen. "We don't even know what happened to the crew. After you brought the ship back, thorough searches were done... it was completely deserted."

"Do we know why environmental control was online when we approached it in the Delta Quadrant?" She asked him.

He pointed to the screen. "Apparently its got a multi-spectral sensor system that can run for an indefinite amount of time with virtually no power. The ship was powered down, but when _Voyager_ entered the sector, the _Aerios _saw it and powered up key systems."

"What about when we beamed over and it automatically jumped into hyperspace to earth... Something about an 'automatic recall subroutine?'"

"We still don't know why that was in place. There are things we still don't know about the ship and its history. I've got people working on it though." He replied.

Janeway stood there a moment looking around the room. Something about the atmosphere was bothering her but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. She finally turned back to Captain Price.

"Well lets bring _Voyager_ home, shall we?" She brushed the feeling off and smiled.

He returned the smile and ushered her to a screen. "Thats what we're here for." He replied.

--

Janeway cringed from the _thrum_ of the _Aerios _transporter as it set her down in the courtyard of her apartment complex. She had gone over the plan with Captain Price and now was ready for a good night sleep before the recovery mission. A few minutes later she was in the bubble bath relaxing.

Kathryn sat in the tub soaking and thinking. There was something in the back of her memory that she couldn't grasp and it was bothering her. She leaned back and sank further into the water. Her life on _Voyager_ seemed so long ago – and yet it had been barely a month since their return to earth. She smiled when she thought of Chakotay who, as far as she knew, was visiting a tribe in Africa. She took a sip of wine and thought about Ensign Harry Kim. Her young friend had grown so much during their journey. So much so that Starfleet had promoted him to Lieutenant and he was due to be stationed on the _Enterprise _after three month shore leave was over.

She repositioned herself in the tub and poured more wine into the glass. She suddenly though of Tom, B'Elanna and the newborn. They were still in San Fransisco, both of them teaching at the Academy. _I need to go see them when this is over. _She thought, smiling, thinking about baby Miral.

Of course there was her life-long friend Tuvok, who had been on Vulcan ever since their return. She missed him. The truth was she missed all of her friends and their return to the Alpha Quadrant had affectively broken up the family. She saw Seven weekly – being that they worked in the same building and had lunch often. As for the Doctor, he was involved in something top-secret at Starfleet Medical, and she had not seen much of him since the return. She sighed quietly and got out of the tub. A few moments later she was in bed asleep.

--

The moment that Captain Keith Price got in bed – he was asleep. Keith had always been a sound sleeper and this particular night was no different. He was dreaming soundly about the day that Starfleet contacted him and told him about his _Aerios _assignment. His first command, given to him two years ago, was aboard the starship _Newport_ – a highly advanced scout ship that was developed during the Dominion war. Given his command ability and high marks in extreme and volatile situations they had decided to transfer him to the _Aerios _to help unlock its secrets from the future.

Since the moment he had stepped foot on the ship he had fallen in love with it. Every minute that went by they discovered some new technology from the future that had only been a dream in some developers mind. It was just the kind of thing he loved.

Suddenly Captain Price woke up. He bolted up from his bed and sat there for a moment. He had come to learn that when something woke him up he needed to get up right then and pay attention to his surroundings – so that's what he did.

Keith slowly stood up out of bed and walked to his desk. He sat down, closed his eyes, and listened intensely to his surroundings. He could hear a repair crew on the deck below him – but that wasn't what woke him up. He tuned the repair crew out and listened some more. He heard the shuffling of footsteps walking through the corridor outside his door. _Ensign Ynez_ he thought. _She always shuffles her feet. _He rolled his eyes and closed them again. He strained to hear the sound for a few more minutes but it was in vain. Finally he gave up and got back in bed. He hit the pillow and heard it – it was a faint whimpering noise like a trapped or scared dog. He pressed his head against the wall next to his bed and heard it again.

"What the hell?" He stood up and changed into his uniform. "Computer, pull up the layout of this deck." He walked over to the large screen in the wall and looked at the floor plan. There was a room directly behind his with no access doors. "Computer what's in this room?" He asked after he tapped it on the display.

_"Internal sensors are disabled in the designated section."_

_"_Activate them and scan the room."

"_Enter verification."_

_"_Authorization Keith-gamma-echo." He stated with his arms crossed. Suddenly the wallscreen blanked out. "Comput-?" He started to ask the transporter swept over him.

He immediately found himself standing in a small room facing another large wallscreen. The screen activated and displayed the war-hardened face of Captain Scott Bailey - Captain Price recognized him from the ships crew manifest. The man on the screen sighed, and spoke.

_"I've never had a mental breakdown before. I've always taken pride in my mental state…. Being able to hold my own when other people crack. I've always wondered what it felt like to have a complete nervous breakdown… and wonder how those sorry sons of bitches could handle it. I've seen combat like this ruin people, where I have held my own. But this war… this god damn war…" _The man fell silent for a moment, and looked beyond the focus of the recorder. _"I know now what those poor bastards feel like when they are on the brink of loosing their minds."_

Keith covered his mouth as he watched the recording. He could already tell the man on the screen was starting to break.

_"__I have to give the _Aerios _credit. This ship has held up through the worst of times. I'm afraid she's hit her limit though. The engineering section is nothing but a charred… a charred gaping disaster…" _Captain Scott paused again lost in thought._"The shield ring is gone, as is our variance ring. Not to mention we are one hyperdrive short of a full load." _

Captain Price shook his head as he watched the Captain on the screen break down in hysterical laughter. It was hard to watch.

_"__All mighty Starfleet." _Scott whispered._"They wont admit it, but this war was… is… completely avoidable." _Keith could see an idea spark behind his tired eyes._ "This can all be avoided. The answer is in the _Aerios. _I beg anyone-" _He stopped when the comm system activated. Keith heard the voice of a woman crackle through the speakers.

"_Stancil to Bailey, we are undergoing docking procedures. See you in a few, _Colont _out__."_

The transmission blanked out. The screen deactivated, leaving Keith Price standing there lost in though.

"Dear God, what were they involved in?" He whispered to himself. Suddenly something brushed up against his leg – causing him to jumped back and turn around in mid air. He was staring down at a large golden retriever dog. The dog whimpered at him and brushed up against him again.

"Well hello puppy!" Keith said and held his hand down for the dog to sniff. "Are you friendly?" He asked, when the dog seemed to smile and then proceeded to rub up against him. Captian Price knelt down and started to pet the dog. "Where did you come from?" He asked the dog as he looked around the room. He then realized that the room was sealed with no access hatches of any kind. "Where the hell _did _ you come from?" He said slowly with confusion. The dog looked up at him and sat down. "Huh." Price muttered as he stood up. "Computer, two to beam to the medical bay."

--

Doctor Hurley Prescott looked up from his computer terminal when he heard the _thrum_ of the transporter in the main medical bay. He grabbed a tricorder and walked out of his office. Much to his surprise, the captain was standing there with a large dog.

"Captain Price!" He nodded. "Nice dog - everything okay?"

"What are you doing up? Its the middle of the night." Price started. "I was just going to run some scans with the equipment but since your already here..." The Captain trailed off.

"Ah well I'm always up on nights before a big mission. Can't sleep for some reason." Prescott knelt down and patted the dog on the head. "This is a beautiful golden retriever. Did you bring him up from earth?"

"Strangely enough – no." Price replied. "I actually found him in a sealed room. Can you give him a physical? I don't know where the hell he came from and he looks healthy."

"You found him in a sealed room? Whats your name, pup?" Prescott asked the dog, as he felt for the collar. "Your name is..." He looked for the badge. "...your name is Captain!"

"Oh your kidding." Captain Price said as he raised his eyebrows. He leaned down and looked at the collar. "His name is Captain. That's going to be confusing."

"Ah its fine. He looks like a captain!" Prescott said. "Look at how tall he stands and with such form!" He pulled the tricorder out of his pocked and patted the bio bed. "Can you jump up here, Captain?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth the dog effortlessly jumped up on the bed and sat down.

"Oh wow he's smart." Price noted.

"Sure is." Prescott replied as he opened his tricorder. He ran it over the dogs body and then stopped when the readout appeared. "He's also not a dog." He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Captain Price bunched his eyebrows. "What? Of course hes a-" Price stopped when Prescott activated the medical monitor. It was displaying the scans of the dog – his internal organs were made of a complex network of nanites.

"This dog is a very complex nanorobot." Prescott said slowly. "I've never seen anything like it!" They both turned their attention back to the dog which was sitting on the bed staring at him.

"How smart is he I wonder?" Captain Price walked closer to the dog and looked into his eyes. "Can you understand us?" Keith asked the dog who then promptly stood up and nuzzled his head against Keith.

"I think he can." Prescott said as he watched the live readouts on the screen. "It looks like he's brilliant... he can probably think faster than we can. Although it doesn't look like he's equipped to talk. If I had to venture a guess..." Doctor Prescott stopped and zoomed the screen. "He's designed to mimic a normal dog in every way except he's just a whole lot smarter. I wonder if he was a pet for this ships previous captain?"

"Is he safe?" Keith asked. Suddenly he thought of something. "Has this dog been locked in that room for the past four hundred years while this ship was dormant in the Delta Quadrant? Wait what is he staring at?" He stopped when he noticed the dog looking at his collar.

"He is looking at the pips on your uniform. He looks sad..." Prescott said as he crossed his arms.

"He knows my rank and he knows I'm not Captain Scott. He must know that Scott is dead." The dog whimpered slightly and looked down. Keith suddenly felt horrible for the dog- or whatever it was- so he patted him on the head and snapped his fingers down by his side. "Lets go, Captain, I've got your back now." Captain jumped down from the bed and started wagging his tail. "Thanks Doc!" Captain Price said as he started walking out of the medical bay. The dog fell in step right beside him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Captain Janeway listened to her heels click as she walked down the hallway at Starfleet Command. She wasn't sure why but the sound was annoying her today. Kathryn was excited about the chance to retrieve her ship – however something deep in her gut had been bothering her all day that she couldn't figure out. It was making her irritable.

She took a left and walked into a large transporter room. The ensign behind the panel looked up from his padd.

"Where to?" He asked as she stepped up on the pad.

"The _Aerios _please." She replied. He cringed slightly and shook his head.

"Sorry Captain, we cant initiate a transport to the _Aerios _from here. Last time we tried to beam a cargo container up to that ship for some reason its transporters grabbed it right out of our molecular buffer and overloaded the system down here. That container ended up on the other end melted."

"Oh damn." She replied. "What happened?"

"For some reason the systems are not compatible. You'll have to have them initiate from their end."

Janeway sighed. _And here I was thinking I could avoid that damn thrum._ She nodded at the young officer. "Thanks anyway." She stepped off the pad and winced her eyes shut. "Janeway to _Aerios -_ one to beam up."

She opened her eyes overlooking the bridge. She glanced around, noticing that Captain Price was nowhere to be seen. She walked down to the helm pit and smiled at the ensign manning it.

"Captain Price around?" She asked as she inspected the panel. From a first glance she had absolutely no idea how it functioned.

"He's in the ready room. He asked for you to join him when you beamed up." The ensign replied.

"Thanks." Janeway started to turn around when she stopped and glanced back down. "You know how to fly this ship?"

"Yes Ma'am." The ensign replied. "Ive been studying it since you brought it back. What's amazing about this drive is that I could get us all the way to the Ocampa home world and back to Earth in forty seconds flat."

Janeway shook her head... slightly overwhelmed. "He's in his ready room?" She asked as the ensign nodded.

A few moments later Captain Janeway materialized in Captain Prices ready room. He was seated at the desk and seemed to be studying something intensely on the screen. She started to walk foreword when she stopped- noticing the dog.

"Captain Janeway!" He exclaimed quickly as he looked up. She could tell that he hadn't slept in a while for his hair was messy and his eyes were red.

"Captain Price, is everything okay?" She asked as she walked towards the dog. "And who is this?" She sat down on the couch next to the dog to pet it.

"That's Captain." Keith replied. "He belonged to the previous captain."

Janeway glanced up at him. "The previous captain? But that was centuries ago...?"

Price sighed. "Captain Janeway... last night I uncovered something disturbing." She stood up and walked closer to his desk.

"What?" She asked as she sat down across from him. He tapped a button on the console in front of him, starting a video on the wallscreen behind him. Janeway watched silently as Price replayed the video of Captain Scott that he had discovered the night before. After the video ended the screen blanked out. Janeway glanced at Price and shook her head.

Price cleared his throat and matched her gaze. "I still don't know what happened to the crew of this ship." He said quietly. "However I did some heavy digging in the sensor logs and right after that message was recorded there was a massive explosion in this room. Captain Scott killed himself... looked like a phaser overload."

"Do you know anything about the war he mentioned?" Janeway asked after a moment of silence.

"Unfortunately, no." He replied. "But Captain Scott knew something - and I believe that he knew that the _Aerios_ would end up in the past."

"What makes you say that?" Kathryn raised her eyebrows.

"I cross checked that video log of his... it was encrypted with my access code. Somehow that man knew that we would be having this conversation in the past, before the war." Keith said quietly.

Janeway sat there for a moment, thinking. "Have you contacted Starfleet?" She asked slowly.

Keith shot his eyes up from the monitor. "No... and I'm not going to either. I believe we need to gather more data before we bring this to them. Especially if this is war was started from a corruption within Starfleet Command. We might have a chance to prevent this thing before it even happens." He paused for a moment. "What are your thoughts?"

Janeway thought about it for a second. She couldn't help but agree. "We need to get back to the graveyard." She said. "Once there we can secure _Voyager_ and begin a search of the ships and see if we can shed some light on this war."

Keith smiled at her. "I'm glad we see this eye to eye. I just cant help but feel like there is something more going on here." Keith stood up and stopped when the comm activated.

_"Captain, Starfleet just signaled that the _Voyager_ party is ready to beam up." _

"Proceed with the transport, Lieutenant." Price said as he looked over at Janeway. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?" He said as he ushered Captain Janeway towards the transport pad.

"What was he talking about when he said "The _Voyager _party?" Janeway asked him as they stepped onto the pad. The golden retriever jumped off the couch and joined them.

Keith just smiled at her. "Main bridge."

Janeway stepped off of the transport pad and looked up. She was staring face to face with her old command crew. Chakotay, Tuvok, Kim, Seven, Paris, Torres and the Doctor all looked up at her and stood at attention. Captain Janeway felt a tear form in her eye.

"Its good to see you, captain." Chakotay stepped foreword. "Captain Price contacted us and informed us of the mission. We wanted to help you bring _Voyager_ home."

Kathryn smiled at them and turned back to Captain Price. She mouthed the word _thank you_ at him. He nodded with a smile and turned down to his helm officer.

"Ensign Ynez... prepare to break orbit and begin the hyperdrive warmup sequence." Price sat down in his chair and turned to his tactical officer. "Hail Starfleet Operations." His Tactical officer nodded as Keith stood in front of his chair. "This is the Starship _Aerios, _we are standing by to break orbit."

_"_Aerios_, you are clear for departure. Good luck. Starfleet out." _The comm system cracked off.

"Thats our cue!" Price said as he sat down. "Helm, break orbit and lay in a course for the last known location of Captain Janeways ship." He looked over his shoulder at Janeway and her crew who were standing at the back of the room. Kathryn met his gaze with a smile. Keith nodded at her and turned back around.

"Course plotted. Standing by to enter hyperspace." Ynez spoke.

Keith Price looked down at Captain who was sitting by his side. The dog looked up at him and seemed to nod at him. Keith raised his eyebrows and then shrugged it off. "Engage."

--

The alien looked up when his friend walked into the room. He placed the book down on the table as he looked up.

"Ju'dackk renax vlee foxx du?" He asked his friend.

The second alien threw his hands up in the air. "Hunak! Rek no vlee du hanad unkek." It replied with frustration. "Ii geqxc-" He stopped when there was a bright flash outside of the large windows. They both turned to see a large starship streak out of hyperspace. They looked at each other with surprise and slapped their communicators quickly. The room echoed with a loud _thrum_ as they disappeared.


	5. Chapter 5

**400 Years in the Future**

Captain Scott sat in his chair holding the phaser. He could feel it vibrating in his hands as it shrilled loudly – its power cell on the verge of an overload. He was doing this because he couldn't take it anymore. Starfleet had once been a monument… a proud icon standing tall in the universe. They stood by the definition of right and wrong and lived by the motto of doing good in the universe. That was of course before the _Yanari _incident. That one pivotal moment in history that turned good into bad. It swept across the higher ranks like a fire fueled by warp plasma. He wanted nothing more than to escape it, escape the corruption and greed. The only way he could see how at the current moment was death. It would be quick and painless he knew, when the powercell reached its overload limit. The cell would explode sending a shockwave outward - a shockwave that would most likely destroy the entire room.

At this point he would welcome death with arms wide open. It would surely be the best escape from the hell he was living. He was distracted with his thoughts suddenly when he heard the _thrum_ of the transporter. His trusty right hand and best friend for three years, Captain, materialized on the pad by the door. Captain ran up to him and let out a deep bark. It had always amazed Scott how even though Captain was alien in origin, the dog had a very deep bond with him. Captain knew Scott almost better than he knew himself. The dog barked again at him as he looked at the phaser.

Suddenly an idea struck Scott. He realized a quick and easy way to _fix_ the entire thing. He sat the phaser down on the desk and snapped at Captain. "Computer, two to beam to deck twenty-one!" The moment the transporter beam caught them the phaser exploded. He caught a quick sight of the flash as they dematerialized.

They materialized in the auxiliary transport station on deck twenty-one. The floor rocked slightly under them – the effect of his phaser overload on deck one. He glanced at the lights as red alert was triggered automatically, and shook his head. Right about now emergency teams would be rushing into the room only to discover it had been obliterated by the phaser overload. He would go down in history for committing suicide in his ready room… just another casualty of war.

"Of course if we pull this off…" He muttered down to Captain who just sat down and stared at him. Scott could tell that Captain was confused by his erratic behavior… although there wasn't much he could do about it at the moment. Captain Scott smiled a weak smile at the dog and then turned around to the control panel behind him. "Computer, reconfigure the long range transporter array for a single-matrix transport and set the target coordinates as follows." He entered the coordinates into the keypad.

_"Target coordinates are out of transporter range." _

"Compensate with transporter program infinite-echo."

_"Standby."_ He watched the screen as the computer calculated what needed to be done. He smiled when he realized what he was trying to pull off might actually work.

"_Program in place. Transporter standing by – initiate when ready." _

"Come on Captain, that's our cute!" He snapped his fingers at his dog as he jumped up on the pad. Captain walked up and sat beside him. "Computer, delete transporter location logs and sensor data related to my whereabouts over the past five minutes." Scott took a deep breath in and crossed his fingers. "Energize."

--

Lieutenant Denny Krendt leaned back in his chair at the helm. A few moments ago his best friend, Captain Scott Bailey, had retired into his ready room. Denny was somewhat lost in thought as he sat there with his arms crossed. He was blankly staring through the _Colont_ tractor beam on the viewscreen at the approaching starbase. The entire propulsion system had been taxed beyond limit – rendering his job useless at the moment. They were in the hands of the _Colont_ and the approaching dock-assist drones.

He looked around the bridge at the command staff. He stopped and smiled when he looked at Commander Harley. Denny, Captain Scott, and Commander Harley had all gone to the Academy together - and had been best friends since. When Scott made the rank of Captain he picked the staff when the _Aerios_ was commissioned and they had been through the best and worst of times ever since. The past few years had been especially hard however – everyone was worn down to the core from the constant battles and loss of life. The _Aerios_ herself was showing signs of wear… systems had been failing left and right for months. Denny was afraid that the close escape from the Yanari and the near-destruction of the engineering section would put them all out of the game for a while… although the more he thought about it the more it was a good thing. He was getting worried about Scott who had been acting more and more out of character the past few months.

Denny did a quick check of his panel and stood up out of his seat. He walked up to Commander Blake Harley who had a glazed blank look in his eyes.

"Permission to leave the bridge?" Denny asked quietly and pointed towards the ready room. Commander Harley jumped slightly and looked up at him.

"Of course." He nodded slightly. Denny turned and started to walk away when he heard Commander Harley stand up behind him. "Denny!"

Denny turned on his heel to face him. "Yes sir?"

"Tell him… tell him I'm sorry." Blake placed his hand on Dennys shoulder for a moment. "I know he had a lot of faith in this mission." He squeezed his shoulder a brief second and sat back down in his chair. Denny nodded at him and turned around again. He approached the transporter disc on the floor but stopped when he heard a muffled explosion. He looked up quickly when the wall separating the ready room and the bridge exploded outwards toward him. A massive flash of orange energy and debris erupted from the ready room, threw Denny backwards, and knocked everyone out of their seats. Denny could barely make out the sound of Commander Harley screaming for medical teams when he blacked out.

--

The next day Denny stood in the turbolift as it slowly rose up from the medical center of the starbase to docking port nine. He had been treated for plasma burns and had been released to temporary quarters on the starbase… although he was going back to the Aerios to collect some personal items from his quarters. He got out of the turbolift to change to an interconnecting shaft and rubbed his hand as he entered the new lift. His skin still felt strange from the burns. "Deck sixteen on the _Aerios."_ He said quietly to the voice receptor. He rode in the silence of his own thoughts… he couldn't believe that his best friend of ten years was gone. Blake had filled him in on what had happened… the phaser overload had completely vaporized everything in the room – including the walls around it. The Doctor told him that if he had actually stepped up on the transport disc that he would have been vaporized as well.

Blake stared at the turbolift door and listened to the thrum of the antigrav thruster. He just couldn't believe that Scott had killed himself… it was consuming him. It was so out of character for him – Scott had always been the most stable man he knew.

_"Deck sixteen."_ He snapped out of his thoughts when the doors opened revealing a damaged corridor. Even the crew quarters levels had massive damage on them. It was a depressing sight. He started to walk out of the lift when he thought of something. He _needed_ to see Captain Scotts ready room – if only for closure. He stepped back into the lift.

"Main bridge." He said and looked down at his feet as the lift propelled itself onward. A few moments later he walked onto the empty bridge. The crew had been evacuated and the repair crews had not arrived yet.

The wall separating the bridge and the ready room had been completely blown out by the phaser explosion, leaving rubble and charred plating everywhere. He walked slowly up to the ready room and stepped in. The entire room had been obliterated. The desk and almost all of Captain Scotts personal artifacts had been vaporized, leaving literally nothing left to even look at.

"Rest in peace old friend." He whispered and turned back around facing the bridge. He walked slowly out of the room when he realized something. "Where is Captain?" He muttered to himself. Denny twirled back around and stared at the destroyed room. "Captain is made of an exopolymer…" He said slowly to himself – realizing that the material Captain Scotts dog was constructed of could not be destroyed by that type of explosion. "Computer locate Captian."

_"Captain is not on board the _Aerios._"_

"Was he taken to the starbase after we docked?"

_"Negetave._"

"What was his last known location?"

"_Deck twenty one – auxiliary transporter control." _

"Why on earth…" He trailed off staring at the destroyed room. "Computer beam me to that room."

A moment later he stepped off of the platform and looked around. "Why would Captain be in here by himself?" He said slowly as he approached the control pad. He tapped the keys and pulled up the transporter logs. The file was empty. "What the hell?"

Denny stood there staring blankly at the panel for a moment when he thought of something. He reached up and tapped a button on the panel to bring up the special program history. The last transport that took place was reconfigured for infinite-echo forwarding. 

"Son of a bitch… Scott is still alive." Denny said quickly and stepped back. He stared at the infinite-echo program and it hit him. "_I know where he went!"_


	6. Chapter 6

**400 Years in the Future**

The second the transporter beam swept over Scott Bailey and his dog Captain, Scott wondered if he would ever see the light of day again. He was taking the biggest risk of his carrear with this stunt – and he hoped with all his heart that it would pay off. Of course there was the risk of an infinite-echo transport to such a far distance as well. Only Federation Flag Officers were supposed to know of the programs existence however a few years ago one informed Captain Scott of the program in order to return a favor.

The program was simple and complex at the same time. When someone needed to transport further than long-range transporters could reach, and only in a severe cases due to the programs record of being unreliable, they could use infinite-echo forwarding. The transporter encoded a computer algorithm into the data stream and beamed the person or persons as far as the system could reach towards a receiving transporter. The data stream was received, but instead of rematerializing, it automatically forwarded again to another receiving transporter. The beauty of the system was it was completely automated and was able to use any transporter along its path until the destination was reached. In Scott and Captains case they were beaming into the eye of the enemy. To the planet Yanarus, the Yanari home world – on the other side of the beta quadrant.

**Three years ago**

The aeroshuttle _Calypso_ clunked softly as it docked into its hatch on the underside of the _Aerios. _Captain Scott finished securing the systems and then stood up and stretched. He had just returned to the ship from a one week shore leave on the planet Irrus IV. A few moments later he carried his bags out of the shuttle and began his walk down the corridor towards his quarters - the corridors were packed with personnel beaming up from the surface of the planet. Scott smiled to himself when he saw that most of them had brought back brilliant sun tanned skin – and a few of them were returning with bright red sun burned skin. _It's the price you pay for falling asleep on the beach_. He laughed to himself as he continued down the hallway. He smiled when he saw his first officer standing next to a transport disc at the end of a hall. He was the eighth in line waiting with his head buried into a padd. Scott walked up behind him and grabbed his shoulders. Commander Blake Harley nearly jumped out of his skin.

_"Holy-" _He stopped to breathe when he saw it was Scott. "You scared me half to death."

"That's what'll happen to you when you let your guard down!" Scott chuckled. "How was your vacation?"

"Excellent my friend. A week of nothing to do is just what the doctor ordered." They stepped forward a few feet as the line thinned down.

"Good to hear. Hey what do you say meet me in my ready room in fifteen? I got to thinking about something earlier and I want to run it past you."

"You know what that thinking will do… get you in trouble." Blake laughed at him as the person in front of him vanished through the disc. "I'll see you there. Bridge." Scott watched him vanish in a brilliant flash of light. He chuckled to himself and stepped up on the disc. "Deck three."

--

Fifteen minutes later Commander Harley stepped off of the transporter disc in the captain's ready room to find his friend staring at the wallscreen behind his desk. It was displaying a massive starchart of the region.

"Do you remember the last time we were in this sector of space?" Captain Scott turned around and asked when he heard the transporter activate in the room. Commander Harley walked up to the screen and narrowed his eyes.

"I want to say it was last year…" Blake said as he stared at the chart for a moment. "Ah I remember. Last year, we helped the Yanari transport a load of dynafoxulate from their homeworld to a planet on the outer rim of the Kerenn nebula." He pointed to the nebula on the chart. "Why do you ask?"

"Do you remember what was on the other side of the Kerenn nebula?" Scott raised his eyebrows as he stared at Commander Harley. Suddenly Blake realized where he was going with it.

"The quadruple pulsar cluster." He grinned as Captain Scott snapped at him. "The only pulsar cluster with four inter rotating pulsars in the known universe."

"And we got called out on an assignment before I could satisfy my curiosity!" Scott finished his thought. "This is the first time in a year that we have been in this region with nothing to do… and I would love to get a detailed scan of it."  
"You know that we have the phenomenon recorded in the ships library, right? It has been documented before."

"Yes but that's not the point!" Captain Scott said as he sat down. "The point is that we are explorers, at least we are supposed to be, and nobody on this ship has laid eyes on such a fantastic spectacle!"

Commander Harley grinned at him. "I guess I'll go tell stellar cartography to dust the telescopes off and get ready for some picture taking!"

"There you go." Captain Scott jumped up from his chair and they walked to the transport disc.

"You're such a tourist."

"Oh shut up."

A few moments later they stepped off the disc and headed to their seats. The ensign manning the communications terminal jumped up when he saw them.

"Captain – I was just about to call for you!"

"Yes ensign?"

"We are picking up a planetary distress signal." He replied quickly. Captain Scott stopped in his tracks and his face went sober.

"Put it on speakers."

_"My name is Chancellor Herrid of the Yanari home world. To any starship in range we require immediate assistance! An asteroid of massive proportions is on a collision course with our planet. All of our attempts to destroy or alter its course have failed. We will suffer complete planet-wide devastation if it-" _

Captain Scott looked up at the ensign when the transmission stopped.

"It just cut off sir." He said as he looked at his panel.

"Red alert!" Commander Harley said quickly as he walked up to Captain Scott. "Captain, all the other ships in range are small passenger vessels. The _Aerios_ is probably their best bet."

"Completely agree with you commander." Scott said quickly as he walked down to the helm pit. "Denny I hope you didn't forget how to fly this thing while you were on vacation. Plot a hyperspace slip to the Yanari homeworld."

"Yes sir." Denny Krendt replied as he started working his panel.

"Oh Christ, are all of our people back up from the surface yet?" Scott asked quickly.

"Yes sir, computer shows full compliment." Commander Harley replied after he checked the left wallscreen.

"Course plotted, standing by to enter hyperspace." Denny said quickly.

"Initiate slip." Scott said as he sat down. Four seconds later the ship re-entered normal space. They were staring at the Yanari homeworld on the viewscreen. Right in front of it was a massive asteroid that seemed to have just entered the atmosphere.

"Oh my God." Commander Harley whispered as he stood up and approached the viewscreen. "It's too far in. If we try and shoot it down it's going to break up and cause just as much damage."

Scott glanced up to his ops officer. "I'm guessing the tractor beam array isn't going to work here either."

"There is no way we can tractor that thing to a stop from here, much less get it back out of the atmosphere. Captain, I don't think there is anything we can do here." He said quietly.

"There is always something to be done." Scott muttered under his breath as he stared at the viewscreen. He was thinking… desperately trying to find a solution. Suddenly he thought of something. He ran down to Denny Krendt.

"I want to run something by you and you're not going to like it. You fly this ship every day and you know its limits more than anybody on board so I want to know if you think this will work."

"If what will work?" Denny turned his head toward the captain and met his gaze.

"What if we made a hyperspace slip to right in front of the asteroid, follow it down towards the surface, lock onto it with our tractor beam and alter its course just enough for a hyperspace slingshot around the planet. Do you think it would work?"

Denny stared at him for a brief second. "You want to tractor the asteroid at _hyperspace speeds_ around the planet?" Denny replied back while running the numbers in his head.

"We obviously can not slip _through_ the planet, but if we use its gravitational field in our favor, grab the asteroid in a tractor beam, extend our slip range behind the ship and enter hyperspace right before we hit the planet we might just be able to slingshot the _Aerios and the asteroid_ around the planet and back into space on the other side."

"I have no idea." Denny finally said. "_Assuming_ we don't burn out the tractor emitters, overload the hyperdrive, or break apart from the torsion of the maneuver…" He stopped as he stared at the asteroid. "We're going to be in drydock for a month undergoing repairs… It just might work."

"Begin the calculations." Scott said quickly as he walked back up to his first officer.

"Has anything like this ever been done before?" Commander Harley asked under his breath.

"We are one small ship…" Captain Scott Bailey said softly. "…sacrificing ourselves for the off chance that we might save a planet."

"Not a hard call."

"And don't you forget it." Scott said quickly. He turned to his tactical officer. "Time to impact?"

"Minute thirty, sir."

"Denny, if we are going to do this we better do it now!" Scott sat down in his chair rapidly and held onto the armrests.

"I'm ready!" Denny said quickly.

"Bailey to all hands… brace for turbulence! Denny – do it!"

Lieutenant Denny Krendt tapped a key on his panel, sending the _Aerios _into hyperspace for a split second. The drive disengaged and they found themselves holding on for dear life as the ship exited its slip right in front of the asteroid – speeding down towards the planet.

_"Tractor beam!" _Scott yelled over his shoulder.

"It's not getting a lock! The beam wont hold!" The ops officer yelled back.

"Transfer all available power and try again!" Scott said quickly, watching the planet get closer on the main viewer.

"Got it! I have a positive lock!"

"Denny – get us in position for the slingshot!"  
"Already working on it! I need more power to the atmospheric thrusters!" Denny said quickly, holding the sides of his panel through the rough ride.

"I've transferred all I can give you!" The ops officer yelled down at him.

"Just a few more seconds…" Denny fought his panel – trying to get the ship to respond under the added weight.

"Planetary impact in ten seconds!" The tactical officer yelled over the shuddering of the ship.

"Just a second more…" Denny watched his panel as the hyperdrive reached the end of its recharge cycle. The board finally turned green. "Entering hyperspace!" He screamed and slammed his fist down on the panel. The _Aerios _leaped ahead with the asteroid in tow.

--

Captain Scott groaned and picked himself up off the floor. His head was pounding as he blinked a few times to clear things up.

"Status report." His voice sounded so soft, so he cleared his throat and said it again. He looked to his side and saw his first officer get up off the floor.

"What happened?" Commander Harley said as he rubbed his head.

"The safety disengage I put in place kicked us out of our slip." Denny muttered as he righted himself in his chair. "Checking our status."

The viewscreen blinked on suddenly displaying directly to stern. The asteroid was still in tow.

"Son of a bitch it worked." Commander Harley said slowly.

"Captain… incoming communication from Yanarus." The communications officer said as he looked at his board.

"Put them up." Scott straightened his uniform, looked up at the screen, and smiled.

--

That was of course three long years ago and the relations with the Federation and the Yanari had changed drastically in the years in-between. War being the illogical thing that it is, had sent the two peoples in a drastic bloodbath for the better part of two years. The Yanari had access to a very rare ore, dynafoxulate, the precious fuel that powered the hyperdrive. The Yanari and the Federation were unable to come to any trading agreements, and then things only went downhill from there.

Scott had come to know Chancellor Herrid in the week that the _Aerios _crew spent on their homeworld after saving them from destruction, and was even gifted his beloved nanorobotic dog Captain by the Yanari people for saving their world.

The co-ordinates that Scott had given the transporter on the _Aerios _was the courtyard of the Chancellors office building, and he knew that if he could talk with him in person they might be able to come to some kind of agreement.

Scott and Captain materialized in the courtyard of the Yanari High Government complex. Before he could say a word military officers pointing guns at him surrounded him. Captain sat down on the ground and looked around at them all. Scott put his hands in the air slowly. "I'd like to speak with Chancellor Herrid please?"


End file.
